Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Live Television Spectacles Today
As I’m sure many others did this Thanksgiving, I watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade last Thursday morning. An interesting thing I noticed, though, was the repeated commercials for an upcoming NBC special event, a production of the Sound of Music with Carrie Underwood in the starring role of Maria Rainer. For those who didn't see the parade or haven’t heard about this event, here’s a helpful link that sums up most of the general info quite nicely (NY Daily News). I couldn't help but think about the Peter Pan production that we talked about earlier in the semester after seeing these commercials since the premise of both these TV spectaculars are so similar. For one, they are both televised productions of popular musicals. They also were and will be broadcast as a live TV event. More coincidentally, both are produced and presented by NBC. From here, though, there are some major differences. For example, most of the spectacle of the Peter Pan production came from the fact that not only was it the first Broadway musical to be broadcast live on TV, but it was also one of the first color TV events. The upcoming Sound of Music production will also be shot in color of course, but now the spectacle really revolves around the liveness of the broadcast. In much of the promotion and talk surrounding the production, NBC and Carrie Underwood stress this aspect of the program and the unique challenges and difficulties that they've faced in preparation for the event. When reading the article from the link I posted, many of the contributors stress how nobody does live TV in the industry, but 50 years ago there were basically no other options. I just wanted to point this out as an interesting parallel of almost the same exact type of event happening in the 1950s and happening now and how the dialogues surrounding the two have become very different. I guess from here it’d be interesting to see how different people perceive the use of live TV today. What are some other examples of live TV today? Do people enjoy them or not and why do you think this is? Personally, I feel like live TV is used primarily as a gimmick to garner attention from the public and the media today, but there is also that kind of special feeling knowing everything on the screen is happening right there, right now that you can’t help but enjoy as a viewer.
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My mind always goes to SNL when I think of modern live tv. SNL is the only show I watch when it is on tv, as opposed to watching it a few days later on Hulu or other less reputable sources. There is a specialness to watching live tv as it unfolds. I sit every Saturday with the secret hope that someone will drop an f-bomb, which will be cut from the recorded version online, but it is something that I got to experience because I saw it live. I find live tv to be a special bond between the viewer and the performer, like you're sharing the moment together. I also think of the one and only time I ever watched professional basketball on tv: Ron Artest went insane and punched a fan. I was in awe because of the insanity that was unfolding, but also because I was experiencing it as it truly unfolded. I still boast today that I SAW the Ron Artest fight, without actually being there. For this reason I think live tv gives a special connection between the viewer and the actor or player or newscaster.
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